Are you continuing to make a good recovery? I do so long to have news of you. I recently bought 21 volumes of The Graphic, namely 1870-1880. What do you say about that? I’ll receive them this week, I hope. I got them very cheaply, you understand, otherwise I couldn’t have managed it. But I heard that they were for sale and got someone else interested who also appreciates them.1
Since your illness I’ve been working hard on Black and White drawings, and I hope to learn a thing or two from these Graphics about the strengths of black and white. I wish we could talk to each other again, because, old chap, what a lot there still is to do!
What I’ve been toiling at in particular lately is heads — Heads of the people — including fishermen’s heads with sou’westers.2
When I’ve looked through The Graphics I’ll write to you about them at greater length. Of course I’m bound to have many duplicates.
1v:2
Now I’ll be pleased to hear more about the batch that you bought, not just whether or not there are duplicates but also in general what interesting prints you find.
I found a girl’s head by Percy Macquoid that’s wonderfully fine, a woodcut after a painting by him.3 Other fine prints I’ve found since include
I had to go to some trouble to get The Graphic. For example, I had to do two portraits (two of each!) of the father and mother of the Jew I bought them from.20 But isn’t it a lucky find!
But it’s so odd that they’re already my property and yet I still haven’t seen them. They’re stored with another large batch of books in a saleroom, but the Jew will get them out this week.
Among the books is La mascarade humaine, 100 lithographs by Gavarni.21 I have them but do you? And the Jew has other things as well that are probably good.
Well, more soon. I hope you make a good recovery, in haste.